Trademarks and brand protection

1. The core idea#

Deeptech founders spend a great deal of thought on patents and almost none on names. Yet the name is often the first IP problem to bite. A company spends two years building a reputation, a website and a customer list under a name, then receives a letter from someone who registered it first. Changing it then costs money, momentum and search ranking, and sometimes a domain you cannot get back.

A trademark protects a sign that tells customers who a product comes from: a name, logo, tagline, sometimes a sound or shape. It does not protect the technology, which is what patents and trade secrets do. Rights can last forever if you keep using and renewing the mark.

Three practical points carry most of the value:

1. Clear the name before you commit to it. A few hours of searching before you incorporate, buy the domain and print anything saves the expensive version later.
2. Pick a name that can be protected. Invented or unrelated words ("Kodak", "Apple" for computers) are strong. Names that describe what you do ("FastBattery", "Quantum Sensing Labs") are weak, hard to register and hard to enforce.
3. File early in your main markets, for the right classes. Filing fees are low: about ₹4,500 a class for a startup in India, $350 a class in the US, around £170 in the UK. Trademarks are one of the cheapest forms of IP protection a startup can buy.

Who this is for: founders choosing or changing a company or product name; anyone about to launch, raise or sell abroad; anyone who has received a letter about their name, or found someone using theirs.

Pairs with: 2.20 (IP budget at pre-seed), 4.01 (when to incorporate), 4.20 (IP disputes) and the 2.18 trade-secrets playbook for what trademarks don't cover.

2. What the law and the evidence say#

The strength of a name runs along a spectrum. US courts have used the same scale since Abercrombie & Fitch v. Hunting World (1976), and the UK, EU and India apply very similar ideas:

Deeptech founders drift toward descriptive names ("Quantum", "Fusion", "Bio", "Carbon", "Photonics" plus a generic word) because they signal the field to investors. Those names are crowded, weak, and often refused.

Registration matters even where use alone gives some rights. In the US and UK, using a name creates unregistered rights (common law rights in the US, passing off in the UK), but only where you have built goodwill, and proving that is slow and expensive. India also protects unregistered marks through passing off. A registration gives a presumption of ownership across the whole country, from the filing date, and makes enforcement against copycats, marketplaces and domain squatters far simpler.

First to file usually wins abroad. The US and, in practice, India and the UK reward prior use in some situations. Many other countries, including China and most of the EU, are first-to-file systems: whoever files first owns the mark. Trademark squatting, where someone files your name in a market you have not reached, is a real problem in China in particular.

Fees are low; the time is the long part.

India's Startups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) scheme also pays registered facilitators' professional fees for DPIIT-recognised startups, so the startup pays only the statutory fee.

Don't over-claim. In SkyKick v. Sky (2024), the UK Supreme Court held that applying for goods and services with no intention of using the mark for them can be bad faith, making the registration partly invalid. Claim what you sell now and plan to sell soon, not every class you can think of.

3. The method#

Step 1: Shortlist names that can be protected#

Generate 10–20 candidates. Strike out anything that simply describes the technology. Prefer invented words, or real words used in an unexpected way. Check each candidate is easy to spell, has no unfortunate meaning in your main markets' languages, and has a usable domain.

Step 2: Do a knock-out search yourself (an hour per name)#

Search for identical and similar names in the classes you will use:

• India: IP India public search (Trade Marks), by word mark and by phonetic match. US: USPTO trademark search.
• UK: UKIPO "search for a trade mark".
• EU and many others at once: WIPO Global Brand Database and EUIPO's TMview. The real world: web search, company registries (MCA, Companies House, Delaware), app stores, LinkedIn, GitHub, Amazon.

Drop any name with an identical or very similar mark for related goods or services. Similarity counts by sound and meaning, not just spelling: "Kwantix" and "Quantix" are the same for this purpose.

Step 3: Get a professional clearance on the finalist#

For the name you will build the company on, pay a trademark attorney for a full search and opinion (about $500–2,000 in the US, ₹10,000–40,000 in India, £500–1,500 in the UK). It catches things a word search misses, such as phonetic variants, translations and unregistered users.

Step 4: Choose classes carefully#

Goods and services are filed in the 45 Nice classes. Deeptech companies typically need two or three. Common ones:

Use the official pre-approved descriptions where you can; the USPTO charges extra for free-form text. Describe what you sell now and plan to sell within a few years.

Step 5: File in your home market, then use priority#

Under the Paris Convention, filing in one country gives you six months of priority to file elsewhere with the same filing date. File first in your home market, then decide within six months where else you need protection.

For several countries, the Madrid Protocol lets you file one international application through your home office and designate others (India, the US, the UK, the EU, China, Japan and over 130 more). It is cheaper and simpler than filing in each country. The catch: for five years the international registration depends on your home application, so if the home mark is refused or cancelled, the international one falls with it ("central attack").

Step 6: Use it properly and watch it#

• Use ™ once you have filed and ® only after registration. Using ® before registration is an offence in India and the UK and can harm your rights in the US.
• Use the mark as an adjective with a noun ("the Lumora™ sensor"), not as a verb or generic noun.
• Set a watch, either a paid service or a quarterly manual search, for similar filings, and oppose within the deadline: 4 months from publication in India, 30 days (extendable) in the US, 2 months (extendable to 3) in the UK.
• Renew: every 10 years in India, the US, the UK and the EU. The US also needs a declaration of use between years 5 and 6.
• Own the mark in the right company. With a flip (4.03), the parent usually holds the main marks and licenses them to subsidiaries.

Worked example#

Two founders in Pune are building a solid-state lidar for warehouse robots. Their working name is "ClearLidar".

1. Shortlist. "ClearLidar" is descriptive and contains a generic term, so they drop it. They shortlist "Veyra", "Optiq" and "Halden".
2. Knock-out search. "Optiq" has several similar marks in class 9. "Halden" is a town and an existing software company. "Veyra" shows nothing similar in classes 9, 7 and 42 in India, the US, the UK and the EU.
3. Clearance. A Delhi trademark attorney confirms "Veyra" for ₹15,000 and flags one dormant Chinese filing in class 12. They decide it does not matter for their market.
4. Filing. As a DPIIT startup they file in India in classes 9 and 42 for ₹9,000 in total. Five months later, within the priority period, they file a Madrid application designating the US, the EU and the UK.
5. Result. At seed, the lead investor's checklist asks for brand registrations. They show the Indian application and the international designations, all keeping the Indian filing date.

4. Country notes: India, US, UK and international#

India.

• File Form TM-A online through IP India. The startup fee (₹4,500 per class) needs a DPIIT recognition certificate or Udyam registration in exactly the applicant's name.
• You can file on a "proposed to be used" basis before launch.
• Expect an examination report. Common objections cite s.9 (descriptive or not distinctive) or s.11 (similar to an earlier mark). You have 30 days to reply, and a hearing may follow.
• Once advertised in the Trade Marks Journal, third parties have four months to oppose.
• Registration lasts 10 years from the filing date.
• Indian courts, especially the Delhi High Court, grant interim injunctions in clear infringement and passing-off cases fairly quickly, so enforcement is practical.

US.

• File through USPTO Trademark Center. You can file on an intent-to-use basis; registration issues only after you file a Statement of Use showing real use in US commerce ($150 per class).
• Foreign-domiciled applicants, including Indian companies filing directly, must use a US-licensed attorney.
• Examination by an examining attorney typically starts many months after filing.
• Keep evidence of use (dated photos, invoices, website captures).
• Federal registration gives nationwide priority from the filing date. State registrations add little.

UK.

• File online with the UKIPO. Use is not required to file, but per SkyKick you must intend to use the mark for what you claim.
• The UKIPO examines for absolute grounds (descriptiveness and so on) but does not refuse for earlier conflicting marks on its own. It notifies the earlier owners, who can oppose. So your own clearance matters more.
• Since Brexit, EU registrations do not cover the UK. File separately or designate the UK under Madrid.

EU. One EUIPO filing covers all 27 member states. It is good value if you will sell across Europe. But an objection in any one country's language or market can block the whole mark.

China. If you will manufacture, source or sell in China, file there early, including a Chinesecharacter version of the name. It is first-to-file, and squatters watch for foreign brands. Manufacturers who make your product can sometimes register your mark themselves.

Domains and handles. Buy the main domain and obvious variants, and claim social and code-hosting handles, as soon as the name is cleared. Registering a trademark is what lets you recover a squatted domain through UDRP (the domain dispute process) later.

Attorney fees typically add 1–3 times the government fees for a straightforward application.

5. Scripts, mistakes, related playbooks, sources#

Scripts#

Briefing a trademark attorney:

"We're a [stage] company making [product] for [customers], selling first in [countries] and likely in [countries] within three years. We'd like a full clearance search for [name] in classes [x, y], an opinion on the risks, and a filing plan using priority and Madrid. Our budget for this stage is about [amount]."

When you find someone using a similar name, before you have filed:

Don't contact them first. Speak to an attorney, check who has priority and in which markets, and file if you can. An early letter can prompt them to file first.

When you receive a cease-and-desist letter:

"Thank you for your letter of [date]. We take it seriously and are reviewing it with our advisers. We will respond by [date, usually 14 days]." Then check their registration, its classes, their actual use, and your own priority dates before saying anything more (4.20).

Proposing a co-existence agreement to the owner of a similar mark in a different field:

"We've noticed your [mark] for [goods]. Our product, [mark], is [description] sold to [customers], so we don't believe customers would confuse the two. Would you be open to a short co-existence agreement setting out the fields each of us uses the name in?"

Common mistakes#

1. Building the brand before searching. The cost of a rebrand grows every month.
2. Descriptive names that cannot be registered or enforced.
3. Assuming company registration protects the name. Registering a company name with the MCA, Companies House or Delaware gives no trademark rights.
4. Filing in the founders' names instead of the company's, or in the wrong group company.
5. Too few classes (missing services in class 42) or too many (over-claiming, which risks bad faith).
6. Missing the six-month priority window for other countries.
7. Ignoring China when manufacturing there.
8. Using ® before registration.
9. No watch service, so a similar filing passes its opposition period unnoticed.
10. Letting the domain or social handles go, or holding them in a personal account.

Related playbooks#

• 2.18 Trade secrets vs patents for process technology
• 2.20 IP budget: what to file at pre-seed
• 4.01 When to incorporate
• 4.03 Flipping to a Delaware holding company, and reverse-flipping back to India
• 4.04 DPIIT recognition and Startup India benefits
• 4.20 Litigation and IP dispute basics

Sources#

• Abercrombie & Fitch Co. v. Hunting World, Inc., 537 F.2d 4 (2d Cir. 1976).

• SkyKick UK Ltd v. Sky Ltd [2024] UKSC 36.

• USPTO fee changes from 18 January 2025: USPTO small entity compliance guide; Finnegan.

• India: Trade Marks Act 1999 ss.9, 11, 21, 107; Trade Marks Rules 2017; fees summarised by S.S. Rana and Intepat; SIPP scheme (DPIIT).

• UK: Trade Marks Act 1994 s.95; UKIPO fee schedule.

• EUIPO fee schedule; WIPO Madrid fee calculator; Paris Convention art. 4 (six-month priority).

• Search tools: IP India public search, USPTO trademark search, UKIPO search, WIPO Global Brand Database, TMview.